Six people charged with stealing $200G in funds intended for Hurricane Sandy victims

Regina Lewis is seen at her arraignment in State Supreme Court on Wednesday in New York. Lewis, a disaster case manager, was the alleged ringleader of a group that stole almost $200,000 in funds intended for Hurricane Sandy victims. (Alec Tabak/for New York Daily News)

Six people were indicted in a $200,000 Hurricane Sandy relief fund scam orchestrated by a case worker who was supposed to help victims, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The swindle centered around 32-year-old Regina Lewis, a former Council of Peoples Organization employee who managed aid bids on behalf of disaster victims from August 2014 to May 2015, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Advertisement

Lewis allegedly submitted bogus applications or inflated the need of real victims — funneling dough to herself and others in on the racket. She stole funds from New York Disaster Interfaith Services and the Salvation Army, according to the DA.

Lewis bogusly claimed her boyfriend, Charles Murray, 37, and Joal Livingston, 50, a former employee of the interfaith group, were landlords in need of storm charity money. Both were cut checks for assistance, prosecutors said.

Ella Zlotina, 40, Jamie Hughes, 40, and Christine Clover, 48, were also falsely named as landlords with damages from the devastating 2012 storm.

The five were charged with grand larceny for allegedly cashing fraudulent checks. Lewis was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail.